Week 39: Africa and Middle East Startup Funding Led by Paymob

Startups across Africa, the Middle East and Israel raised a combined $133.8 million this week, based on disclosed funding rounds tracked by Techloy, with investor capital flowing mostly into fintech and AI. Paymob picked up the biggest check at $35 million, with four other rounds close behind, from $18 million to $30.8 million.

The Week's Largest Startup Funding Rounds

Here are the biggest disclosed startup funding rounds across Africa, the Middle East and Israel this week.

/1. Paymob, $35M, Fintech, Egypt

Paymob is based in Cairo and handles payments for more than 390,000 businesses across Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Mubadala and the EBRD put in $35 million together as a growth round, with a few other investors. Paymob is using it to grow across the Middle East and build new tools for smaller merchants.

/2. Mission Mobile, $30.8M, Fintech, South Africa

Mission Mobile is a South African startup that decides who can get a smartphone on a payment plan when the usual credit checks say no. DN Invest is giving them up to R500 million, about $30.8 million, as a loan rather than buying a stake in the company, though it's not clear yet if they've drawn the whole amount. The money is meant to help them expand through mobile network stores.

/3. Chamelio, $26M, Legal AI, Israel

Chamelio is an Israeli startup that built AI to handle legal work, drafting and reviewing contracts, for company legal teams. They just closed a $26 million Series A round from Entrée Capital, with a few other investors joining in, and the cash is going toward building out the AI, hiring more engineers, and helping customers move off their old legal software.